Title: Red
Mist
Author: Patricia
Cornwell
Publisher: Putnam
Publish
date: 2011
ISBN: 970-0-399-15802-5
This was my
first Patricia Cornwell novel and also (obviously) my first Scarpetta novel,
and I discovered after the event it
wasn’t a particularly good place to start. Avid Cornwell readers complain of
the interminable dialogue, the lack of action, the dreariness and general lack
of motivation to keep reading. A lot of reviews swear at the end they won’t
read another Cornwell book after that. And I can understand the
disillusionment.
To a
Cornwell novice, it would appear self-evident that in the Cornwell world:
·
We
do not kill our adjectives and adverbs. In fact, we spread fertilizer on them
to make them fatter, and give no nutrients to verbs or nouns at all, which
struggle through the cracks in the adjectival forest.
·
We
ENDLESSLY employ the ‘Bit-of-Dialogue’ followed by ‘Inane action’ scenario. ‘No,’
she said, and picked up the chopsticks. ‘I think,’ she said, turning the gas on….
Ad infinitum until the author finally forgets herself and allows a bit of
dialogue without endless interruptions.
·
We
do NOT eschew the no-no tell-not-show words of ‘feel’, ‘think’, ‘consider’, ‘see’,
etc. We employ them mercilessly. We drag the reader through every passing
thought the MP has and leave nothing to the imagination.
·
We
do not build up tension or lead the reader on. We do drop clues but they’re
endlessly repeated and not of great interest anyway, and the plot is
brow-raisingly dubious.
In all, it’s
not the impression I expected to get of such an acclaimed writer. Perhaps I’ll
try an earlier Scarpetta next time. This one needs so serious editing. In fact,
go for a re-write. In fact, scrub that, just don’t bother at all.
Gets 1 out
of 5 Moose Hoofs up.
